The Other Families
by Rebelbecks41319
Summary: Kate Beckett has to show a new Detective the ropes of the job and both women quickly realize that they have a lot more in common than they originally thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Everyone:) **

**I haven't written anything in a while so I might be a little rusty...;), but I really hope you like this and I appreciate any and all reviews.**

**This is set before Limelight (6x13) so Alexis is still with Pi, although he won't come up much. Anything right before and after that is pretty much AU. **

**Disclaimer: I DON'T own anything you might recognize.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>"Why do I have to chaperon that new detective?" Beckett asked annoyed as she stood in Gates' office. She had been called into the captain's office the moment she stepped off the elevator that morning. The week had started out so well. The team had closed a big high profile case on friday and Gates was so grateful, although she didn't exactly put it like that, that she'd given them four days off. It was wednesday and she was happy to get back to work, but that didn't mean she wanted to babysit some rookie detective.<p>

"Listen detective, you are going to do this because you are the best in this entire precinct, maybe in the entire NYPD and because you two have a lot in common. She can learn a lot from you." Gates said determined. She knew Beckett wasn't going to like it, but she also knew that, as much as it pained her to admit it, Beckett was the best.

"She?" Kate asked surprised. She hadn't expected it to be a woman. Then again it kind of made sense. She'd been the youngest woman to make detective in the NYPD and now it was her turn to show a younger detective the ropes.

"Yes. She's a year older than you were when you made detective. She was the best in her year at the academy. There is huge potential there and there is no one more qualified than you to do this." Kate had to hide a smirk, because it obviously took a lot for her captain to say those things to her.

"Fine." Kate sighed. It couldn't be that bad right?!

"Good. She gets here this afternoon. Just show her how it's done, okay?!" Gates said more quietly. Kate nodded and left the office.

"What's going on?" Castle asked the moment she reached her desk. He knew it was rarely good when she had to go into the captain's office. Even worse when he knew for a fact that he wasn't the cause for it.

"New detective coming in this afternoon. I have to ‚show her how it's done'. Apparently 'we have a lot in common'." Beckett told him.

"Oh." He knew how much things like that annoyed her. Castle also knew that Kate had realized that she was once in the same position so she couldn't really blame anyone for having to teach some things to a new detective.

"Yeah. Look, we don't have a case right now so I'm gonna do my paperwork this morning and show her everything this afternoon. If you want to go home you should. I know you already have Paula and Gina on your back and I don't want one of them calling ME again. Also, if you go home and write now, we'll have more time to ourselves when I get home tonight." She winked. She knew he didn't want to leave, even though the only thing she was going to do was boring paperwork. That last statement did everything to convince him to go, though.

"Okay. I'll go. But if you need anything. Coffee or lunch or something, call me." He told her. He looked towards Gates's office to see if she was looking and then quickly kissed Kate.

"Bye." They said together. Kate watched her fiancé leave and then got to work. She had quite a lot of paperwork to do and if she wanted to show this new detective the ropes she'd have to get it done before 1pm. The day had barely begun and she already couldn't wait to go home.

After a while Ryan and Esposito came in and she told them about the new addition to their team before they all got to work. They knew it wasn't good to wish for a murder, but days filled with only paperwork were by far the worst.

They worked all morning and stopped around noon to get some lunch. Esposito ordered Chinese and they all ate together in the break room before getting back to their desks. Kate was so engrossed in her work that she didn't notice the woman exiting the elevator and looking around before stepping into the captain's office. Only five minutes later, when Gates called her into her office, did she notice what was going on. Kate made her way across the room and entered the office.

"Detective Beckett, this is Detective Sarah Johnson. Detective Johnson, Detective Kate Beckett." Gates introduced them. Kate looked the young woman up and down. She was wearing black dress pants and a grey sweater. She also had heeled boots on. They weren't nearly as high as hers, but she guessed she was about the same height as herself. She had long dark blond hair and looked a little intimidated, but still confident.

"It's nice to meet you." Kate extended her hand and the younger woman shook it.

„You too."

"Okay. Now. Detective Johnson, you're going to be working with Beckett's team. At least for a few months. Then we'll see where you go from there. There's a chance you'll stay with them, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. You can go now." Both women left the office and Kate led her to her desk.

"I know this is going to sound like I'm trying to suck up, but it's really an honor to get to work with you. And I know you probably have better things to do than show me how to do my job so thank you." Sarah said a little shyly. Kate had to smile. She had a feeling she was going to like the young detective.

"It's okay. It'll be something else for a few weeks. I'm sure we'll get along just fine." Kate had seen something else in the woman's eyes than determination. Something she had seen many times in her own. She had that haunted look that Kate had no doubt nobody else was going to pick up on. She wasn't going to ask, because Kate Beckett knew better than anyone that the younger woman would close up and not answer anyway so she let it go for now. That didn't mean she wouldn't keep an eye on her, though.

By now both Ryan and Esposito had joined them waiting impatiently to be introduced.

"Ryan, Espo, this is Sarah Johnson. She'll be working with us from now on. Detective Johnson these are detectives Esposito and Ryan." They shook hands and then Kate showed her her desk. It was pretty much right next to hers so Kate could keep an eye on Johnson's work and help when she needed it.

Beckett then showed her around the precinct. Telling her where everything was and what to use and how. They even took a trip to the morgue and introduced her to Lanie. Luckily, she wasn't working on a body. They then went back to precinct. When they got out of the elevator Kate saw that the boys weren't working, but talking to each other like they usually would when Castle was around. When they stepped off the elevator and they heard the clicking of their boss' heels they immediately went back to work hoping, in vain, that she hadn't noticed.

"So, today is not going to be very interesting, because you still have some paperwork to fill out, but tomorrow we might have a case and I'll show you what it's like to do real work." Kate told her and she smiled. Sarah was happy to work under such a nice detective. This team looked like it was focused, but could also bring the fun into working in homicide.

Sarah made her way to her desk and Beckett gave her all the forms she had to fill out. She saw the apologetic look in her eyes, but just shrugged and got to work. The sooner she was done the sooner she could do 'real work' as detective Beckett put it.

At around four she heard someone get off the elevator and make their way to Beckett's desk. It was a man. He looked really familiar, too, but she couldn't place him. He was looking at his phone and she wondered what he was doing and where he was going until he sat down in the chair next to Beckett's desk, never looking up from his phone. She frowned. Nobody on the team seemed to have noticed him, which was odd, considering she had pegged Beckett for a very cautious person. Ryan and Esposito didn't seem to have noticed either. She was about to ask who he was and what he was doing, but Beckett beat her to it.

"What are you doing here?" Kate asked without even looking up. Sarah was very curious now. Nobody seemed bothered by the new presence and Beckett seemed to know him.

"Inspiration." He just stated, still looking at his phone. She was really confused now. What was going on here? She saw Beckett roll her eyes and then finally look up.

"Well, you won't find it looking at your phone, or anywhere else for that matter because we're still doing paperwork. You know that thing I told you about only a few hours ago. The same thing you usually find boring." She then watched as the man put his phone away and looked into the detective's eyes.

"There's always inspiration here." He winked. He didn't look like he'd noticed her presence yet. She was still wondering who the hell he was and what he was doing here.

"Whatever, Castle. I'm not entertaining you. And neither are the boys, because we all have work to do. And so should you, if you don't want Gina to call ME again."

"Meh. I can't. Alexis is home." Now Sarah was just listening trying to work and figure out who the mystery man was at the same time.

"So? Didn't that use to be a good thing?" Kate asked having gone back to work.

"It would be, but she brought Pi." He whined. She saw Beckett trying, and failing, to hide a smirk.

"Ahhh now I see why you're here. Nothing to do with '_inspiration_' after all. But you work in your office, why would he bother you?" Kate asked and regretted it the moment she said it.

"Are you kidding me?! Have you forgotten the 'incident' last week? I don't think so." He said almost outraged and Kate winced. That wasn't a moment she liked to think about. They had just come back from work and let's just say they thought they'd be alone when they got into the loft.

„Right. Okay fine, you can stay." Kate was actually happy to have him by her side. Not that she would tell him that. After the amazing four days they and just spent alone together it was hard to go back to work and have him leave after only a little while. She needed him there.

A few minutes later Kate realized that she hadn't introduced Castle and Johnson yet. She did and Sarah's eyes widened.

„It's really nice to meet you."

„You too. And believe me, you'll learn a lot from Detective Beckett." Castle was intrigued. That woman had something in her eyes. She reminded him a lot of the Kate Beckett he knew a few years back. The one who was so determined to get justice for the victims and driven by her mother's murder, but still willing to see the fun side he brought out of the job.

Just then Beckett's phone rang.

„Beckett." They had a new case.

* * *

><p><strong>Voilà.<strong>

**This was mostly an introduction to the story, but it'll get more interesting in the next Chapters. I promise.**

**O.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heyooo**

**Thanks for all the follows and the reviews I got for the first chapter:) **

**Disclaimer (Applies to all chapters): I don't own ANYTHING!**

* * *

><p>A few weeks later the team had gotten used to having a fourth detective on the team and they were all happy with the new addition. She got along great with everybody. Castle got frustrated after a week, because the boys teased him relentlessly about the fact that Sarah Johnson had read none of his books. (She had only heard about him when she'd looked up Kate Beckett before joining the team.) Until, one day, she started randomly quoting his books. When Castle realized that, he was ecstatic. If he hadn't been too afraid of what his fiancée would do to him, he would've probably hugged the life out of her. They were having a great time, despite the fact that they worked around death all day long, of course.<p>

It was around that time, when Beckett noticed that the younger detective always stayed later than any of them and showed up to work exhausted in the morning. She was really starting to worry about it too, especially since it reminded her of her own behavior back when she joined the force.

One night, Kate waited for everybody but Sarah to leave. She then said her goodbyes and left the bullpen, only to stick around, determined to find out what was keeping the young woman there most nights. She hid in the break room until Johnson finally left her desk about five minutes later, leaving all her stuff behind. Beckett frowned.

_What is she doing?_

She decided to follow her. Sarah entered the elevator and Beckett watched the numbers, noticing that it was going down. She took the stairs until it finally stopped in the basement. She then followed her into the storage room.

_What is she doing down here?_

She watched as Johnson made her way towards the shelf containing all the cold cases before taking a file and going to the table that stood at the back of the room. Now Beckett was even more confused.

_Why is she looking through cold cases?_

She tried not to let her thoughts go back to that time when that was her, but it seemed all too familiar. She could only hope the young detective wasn't down there for the same reasons.

After watching for a few minutes she decided to make her presence known.

"What are you doing?" She asked trying not to startle her, which she did. Sarah looked up and then quickly closed the file before getting up and walking towards where she'd gotten it from, intending to put it back. Kate stopped her.

"Uhmm nothing. Just...checking something." She lied unconvincingly.

"That's a cold case file, Sarah." Kate said softly. She knew she wouldn't get any answers by upsetting her any further.

"I know. Just...like I said...just checking something." The younger detective had no idea how she was going to get out of that one.

"You haven't worked any cold cases since you've been here." Kate then caught a glimpse of the file and saw a name and a photo. Two things she recognized. In fact, they hung with a lot of other photos of dead people in her own home on her homemade murder board.

"What are you doing with that file?!" She asked with more force this time, making Sarah wince. She sat back down at the table, the file still in hand and sighed.

"Why are you looking at that file Sarah?" Beckett asked calmer now. She couldn't afford to have Sarah close up. Kate knew all to well that it wouldn't help anyone if that happened.

"It's my mom's file." She said and Beckett wouldn't have heard her if she didn't already have her suspicions. Kate sighed. She couldn't believe this. In all her years of searching through those particular files it never occurred to her that the three other people who were killed around the same time also had families. That thought made her feel really bad. It was true though. Not once did she stop to think about all the other people who had lost someone they loved that year. All Kate ever wanted was to get justice for her mother. She was still trying.

Beckett needed to make sure she was right before she did or said anything.

„Wait here. I just need to check something." Kate walked back to the front of the room, reached for her mom's file and checked the more recent evidence report. The names in both files were the same. Bracken had had both their mother's killed. Kate was going to keep those details to herself for now. At least until she figured out exactly what Sarah knew.

"Okay, what's going on?" Kate asked as gently as she could, when she sat down next to Sarah.

"My mom was murdered fifteen years ago."

„I…I'm so sorry. I know how that feels." Kate said before she could think about it, hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions about that. Luckily she didn't, too distracted by the file in her hands to think about anything. All Beckett could do was wait. Wait for Sarah to open up about it herself. She wouldn't push it.

„I've always wanted to become a cop. Every since I was a little girl. My mom died when I was only twelve. It made me grow up a lot faster than I should've had to and it also made me want to be a cop even more. When I was old enough to really understand it, my dad told me that her murder had been random. Gang violence. Which to me, meant nobody had even bothered to look any further than that. No evidence, no case, right?! That's why I'm here. I need to find something, anything to make them reopen her case."

„Have you found anything?" Sarah's head shot up. She didn't expect Beckett to listen or even care, let alone ask if she had any new evidence.

„All I know for a fact, is that two other people were killed the same way at around the same time. You'd think that would get at least somebody to listen to me, but no. The last time I brought it up to another cop, they took one look at it and told me it was too random. I'm really tired of hearing that word."

Kate went home worried and feeling guilty that night. _How could I just sit there and listen as a member of my own team talked about the tragic thing that happened to her mom, without telling her she could stop looking for who did it? _Deep down she knew she had done the right thing. Kate needed to think this through before talking to Sarah about it. What she needed to do most, was talk to Castle.

„Hey, I was starting to think you'd gone back to your place? Why'd you stay so… Is everything okay?" Castle was sitting on the couch with his laptop writing, when he heard the door open. One look at Kate's face told him something was wrong.

„We have a problem."

* * *

><p><strong>Voilà. <strong>

**I hope you liked it. Again, I love reviews! Good or bad, don't hesitate to leave one;-)**

**O.**


End file.
